The Ducks took a rather large step Wednesday toward solidifying their roster for years to come when they signed center Ryan Kesler to a six-season, $41.25-million contract extension that will keep him in uniform through the 2021-22 season.

The Ducks locked up one 30-something defenseman for the next three seasons and then watched another leave for a three-season contract elsewhere. Neither was a surprise as free agency opened Wednesday around the NHL.

The Ducks locked up one 30-something defenseman for the next three seasons and then watched another leave for a three-season contract elsewhere. Neither was a surprise as free agency opened Wednesday around the NHL.

The Ducks’ busy draft weekend demonstrated they’re still determined to improve a team that finished a game short of the Stanley Cup Final last month. The Ducks acquired forward Carl Hagelin and goalie Anton Khudobin in trades Saturday while shipping out defenseman James Wisniewski and forwards Emerson Etem and Kyle Palmieri, creating salary-cap flexibility and adding a proven scorer to their lineup.

Connor McDavid is expected to be selected first overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL Draft on Friday in Sunrise, Fla., a potential game-changer for a struggling franchise that’s missed the playoffs for nine consecutive seasons.

ANAHEIM >> The exit interviews happened where the exit did, this season, and last season and the season before that. The Ducks reconvened at Honda Center on Tuesday, after they exited the playoffs in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals on Saturday.

The Ducks are having trouble reaching the lightning round, where the Lightning will play Chicago for the Stanley Cup. Perhaps they should sign LeBron James. Thanks to strategic planning and his own unprecedentedness, James will begin playing for a championship for a fifth consecutive year Thursday, when Cleveland plays Game 1 of the NBA Finals at Golden State.

Live updates from Game 7 of the NHL’s Western Conference Final series between the Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks from Los Angeles News Group staff in Anaheim, including NHL beat writer Elliott Teaford and sports columnists Mark Whicker.

Welcome to the Ducks’ Game 7 nightmare, 3.0. Except it wasn’t a bad dream. It was real again. It was painful again. The Ducks could not wake up from it and they couldn’t prevent the Chicago Blackhawks from taking a

Ducks general manager Bob Murray acquired center Ryan Kesler last summer from the Vancouver Canucks for moments like Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. Kesler was added to the roster to provide more grit and more snarl and more of everything the Ducks lacked.

Mark.Whicker@langnews.com ANAHEIM >> Those who follow the Ducks have been spared one wound. They have not watched the Ducks lose their season on an overtime rebound, an own-goal in the final minute, a disputed goal in the paint.

ANAHEIM >> The first Game 7s in Ryan Getzlaf’s mind happened in Regina, Saskatchewan. There was no specific rink. Sometimes, no ice. “There are rinks on any corner in Regina,” he said Friday, “like Starbucks.

Mark.Whicker@langnews.com CHICAGO -- Ducks-Blackhawks Game 6, the morning after: -- The stage is set for Game 7 in Anaheim, and it’s a big one. It will be televised on NBC, just like The Blacklist and Grimm, not the usual NBC Sports Network.

CHICAGO >> No matter how or when or where it ends, these Ducks aren’t those Ducks. They aren’t the same crew that was wishing and hoping it could win playoff series. Not the same group that got itself involved with Game 7s at home the past two years because they couldn’t win Game 6s on the road, at Detroit and Los Angeles.

The Ducks have been here before. Twice in the last two seasons, in fact. Their track record in Game 7s isn’t good, however. Last spring, the Ducks built a three-games-to-two lead over the eventual Stanley Cup champion Kings in the second round and it looked as if they had seized control of an unpredictable, well-played series heading into Game 6 at Staples Center.

CHICAGO >> Duncan Keith crawled out of his iron lung, put aside his walker, propped his eyes open with toothpicks, and led the Chicago Blackhawks past the Ducks in Game 6 Wednesday. Imagine what he’ll do with two days off.

Live updates from Game 6 of the NHL’s Western Conference Final series between the Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks from Los Angeles News Group staff in Chicago, including NHL beat writer Elliott Teaford and sports columnists Mark Whicker.

CHICAGO >> Was there really any doubt? Was there any reason to believe the Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks wouldn’t actually go the limit in the Western Conference finals and set up a winner-take-all Game 7 on Saturday at the Honda Center? The Blackhawks shoved the back-and-forth test of wills to the breaking point with a comprehensive

ANAHEIM >> Ducks-Blackhawks Game 5, the morning after: -- Will this be the best playoff series in Ducks history? Or is it already? Only two rivals come to mind. In 2007 the Ducks had to pull out Game 5 in Joe Louis Arena but then hammered Detroit at home to win the Western Conference Finals in six.

ANAHEIM >> The meager hours between NHL playoff games were not always spent in the most ascetic fashion. Which is another way of saying that yesterday’s athletes had a different concept of sleep than today’s do.

Live updates from Game 3 of the NHL’s Western Conference Final series between the Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks from Los Angeles News Group staff in Chicago, including NHL beat writer Elliott Teaford and sports columnists Mark Whicker.

ANAHEIM >> This might not be what they meant by Anger Management. But when the Ducks watched Jonathan Toews make a 4-2 lead disappear with a couple of abracadabras, they trooped into the dressing room the way they wouldn’t have last year or the year before.

Maybe if the Ducks were a little better at the start, if their penalty-killing unit was sharper, if they avoided penalties, if a call or two had gone the other way, if a bounce or two had been different, then perhaps they could have already been done with the Chicago Blackhawks.

ANAHEIM >> Every shift brings the promise of disaster or deliverance. Every call is a point of debate. Every goal gets analyzed, with carbon dating, back to its origin. The Ducks and Blackhawks have split four games lasting 341 minutes and 49 seconds, but it’s only a drumroll.

CHICAGO >> Ducks-Hawks Game 4, the morning after: -- Hard to say how relevant this is, but the Blackhawks have been tied in seven series, 2-2, with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. None of those series has reached Game 7.

CHICAGO >> There were words to describe the Ducks’ mood immediately after their 5-4 double-overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals Saturday at the United Center tied the best-of-7 series at two victories apiece.

Live updates from Game 4 of the NHL’s Western Conference Final series between the Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhakms from Los Angeles News Group staff in Chicago, including NHL beat writer Elliott Teaford and sports columnists Mark Whicker.

CHICAGO >> He called it a “huge, huge goal.” He took a moment and added another “huge.” What coach Joel Quenneville saw Antoine Vermette do, in the second overtime of another war-and-peace playoff game, was throw a life raft to a team that had played its best game of this Western Conference Final and still found itself sinking.

CHICAGO >> When the Ducks lost to the New York Rangers during the regular season, it wasn’t because they were outmuscled or outsmarted. It was simply that they were outskated. When the Ducks also fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning, it was because they couldn’t keep up.

Live updates from Game 3 of the NHL’s Western Conference Final series between the Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks from Los Angeles News Group staff in Chicago, including NHL beat writer Elliott Teaford and sports columnists Mark Whicker.

CHICAGO — The last thing the Ducks wanted going into a pivotal Game 3 of the Western Conference finals Thursday against the Blackhawks was a distraction caused by a television commentator based far from the compelling action of the best-of-7 series.

CHICAGO >> Simon Despres didn’t think his one-timed shot from the right faceoff circle in the dying seconds of the second period was a big deal until the puck hit the back of the net. For starters, the Ducks’ defenseman wasn’t sure it was going to get past Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford.